Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III European Cities From The Fifteenth To The Eighteenth Centuries Authorities. — Motley : Rise of the Dutch Republic ; History of the United Netherlands. — Blok : History of the People of the Netherlands. — M A u 11 s-: Histoire de France. — Block : Administration de la ville de Paris. — Ashley : Economic History. Following the age of the'mediaeval cities, there is a long period when cities and city life are of much less comparative importance. Several causes served to bring about this change in the situation. The development of strong national governments in France, Spain, and England deprived the cities of much political power they had possessed during the Middle Ages. Even in Germany the principalities, step by step, gained in importance, and the cities were placed in a subordinate position. Of especial importance to the material welfare of the cities was the change in the control of economic affairs from the cities to the larger governmental authorities; and with this came the abolition of privileges and regulations which had helped to build up the cities at the expense of the country districts. Perhaps these changes served to promote an important development in economic methods at this time which also retarded city growth. This was the transition from the " gild system " of manufacturing to the " domestic system." Under the former, manufacturing industries had been mainly confined to the cities; under the new system, they were carried on very largely in country districts. Another factor was the almost constant state of war throughout Europe, which interrupted land commerce, and led to the destruction of important cities. While these causes combined to produce a marked decline in the importance of cities dependent on manufactures andinland commerce, othe... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.